Posts Tagged ‘chincoteague minnow
Whiffle Ball Pro
So I promised there would be some more fun tricks as well as amazing tricks this year. I consider everything the ponies learn fun, but learning a new trick that makes people laugh is always the best.
Like I said, Minnow is the master at object manipulation. I can hand him anything and he just does the most amazing things with it! Most of the time I just grab random objects to place in front of him and just wait to see what he will come up with on his own. This was the case on Monday.
I was trying to think of something new to teach Minnow, so we ended up just wandering aimlessly around the arena. I was pulling random things out of our equipment shed, handing them to Minnow, and just waiting to see what he would do. When Minnow gets into “trick mode” he’s hilarious. He almost goes a little crazy trying to come up with something exciting in order to get a treat. He was lifting alternating legs, shaking his head no, and backing up all at the same time. It makes me giggle just thinking about it.
So finally out of the shed popped something Minnow thought he could use, a whiffle ball bat. He immediately took it in his mouth and started swinging it around. The light bulb in my head went off and I grabbed a cone and a ball for him to swing at. A few seconds later and he was tapping the ball off the cone with the end of his bat. The cutest part was that if he missed the ball with the bat, he would then proceed to knock it off the cone with his nose. Gotta love a pony that just has to complete the skill.
Painting Pony Website Has New Look!
After months and months of hard work, mostly on my husband’s part, we have finally launched the new Painting Pony Website. The old website was outdated and drab, mostly because it was the product of my tinkering and teaching myself how to design a website on my own. And while I WAS thoroughly impressed with myself and my ability to at least create a functional website, it wasn’t a true representation of Painting Pony.
Painting Pony needed a brighter look that was playful and fun, just like the ponies. I also envisioned a beach-ier feel, after all the ponies do hail from an island, and I wanted the website to have more information about Misty of Chincoteague.
Enter my graphic designer husband. He unknowingly agreed to design me a new site, probably not realizing it would take up most of his free time for the next 6 months. He deserves a big pat on the back for putting up with all my changes and stipulations. I promised him the ponies would sell more paintings so I can take him out to dinner to celebrate!
So to help kick off the launch of the new website I’m offering a FREE 5×7 mini painting with EVERY purchase. Makes a great gift for your favorite horse lover, or simply keep it for yourself! Enter the coupon code NEWWEB in the notes to seller section during check out to get your free gift. This offer will expire on May 31, 2010.
May Paintings
On May 3rd the boys and I were able to paint again. Most of the new paintings created in April sold already, so it was due time to create some new works. I was even able to help Boomerang create two of his first paintings available on canvas. They turned out beautiful! Check out the new paintings below.
"Misty Dreams over Chincoteague by Chincoteague Minnow
"Spring Roundup" by Chesapeake Boomerang
"Waves of the Eastern Shore" by Chesapeake Lightning
"The Littlest Chincoteague" by Chesapeake Boomerang
So what do you think? Do you have a favorite? I think my favorite might have to be “Misty Dreams”, but I do love them all!
As always, don’t forget that we donate 10% of all canvas sales to the Chincoteague Pony Association to help care for the wild ponies on Assateague Island. Many don’t realize, but the volunteer fire department cares for the wild ponies all year round. Dropping hay on the island in the winter, giving inoculations and vet checks in the spring, and just generally making sure the Chincoteague Pony population survives on the island. Painting Pony is proud to support their efforts.
Keep Going Signal
One of the blogs I frequent, Book Ends Farm, recently did a post on the Keep Going Signal used with clicker training. Honestly, I had no idea what that was – never heard of it before. If you have been following my blog from the beginning than you probably know that I openly admit I don’t read a lot of training books. The shame I know. I prefer to rely more on my instincts, and just a process of trial and error.
Minnow putting on the brakes during competition 2007
Don’t get me wrong, I do watch training dvds, and have been known to “internet” browse for training ideas, but I just can’t get into reading books on the subject. Mostly I think its just because I’m a visual learner, so unless there are lots of pictures – you’ve totally lost me.
So anyway, back to the real reason for this post, the Keep Going Signal. Apparently I have been using this method for years and I had no idea. From what I gather, the Keep Going Signal is a cue (probably verbal works best) that you give your horse (or any animal) to let them know you want them to keep doing what they are doing and they will be rewarded shortly.
Here’ are some examples:
Minnow performs at the Pony Centre 2008
When teaching my ponies to paint, once they’ve got the concept of target brush to paper, I use a “good boy” to get them to keep targeting the paper and continue on with strokes until I ask for the brush back and click/reward them.
I also use it in my mounted games training. A “good boy” for a really nice spin around the end pole, but I want you to keep going until you finish the race and I can give you your treat.
The more I thought about it the more I realized I use it pretty much everyday. It must have just developed over time with my interactions with my boys, but I realized they all recognize the “good boy” means your effort was correct and your reward will be coming. When all the ponies hear those two words uttered out of my mouth they offer me a more enthusiastic attempt at what they have been doing, maybe a burst of speed, or a free-er flowing brushstroke.
KD makes a litter dunk on Boomer. PHPC competition 2008
So how did it happen? I think it happened when I first started clicker training each of them. I would ask them to do something, offer up a “good boy” then click and reward them. I think over time, as I began riding them, I began to space them out. The “good boy” would come, then a little later the click/reward. Helps prevent the slamming on the breaks effect when clicker training while riding.
As Book Ends Farm mentions, I guess some people don’t like using a Keep Going Signal, as they feel it complicates things and can lead to frustration in some horses. I definitely could see how this could happen, but I think it also depends on the horse. Obviously if your horse just gets frustrated when you say “good boy” because they are expecting the reward, then you probably shouldn’t use it.
The Painters and their Brushes
Today I decided to take some photos of the boys with their paintbrushes. I was attempting to get some nice photos of them for their new website, but it proved to be harder than I thought with handing them the brushes and trying to run backwards to get the shot before they decided to drop them. It would/will be much easier with two people. Minnow decided to be camera shy – he’s always had an issue with the sound of a camera shutter. I think he associates the sound with the flash going off, and he REALLY believes that the flash is lightning. And Minnow is afraid of lightning. Its one of his lingering fears from when I first met him that I haven’t quite been able to get him over. Although he no longer runs now, he just chooses to look away or calmly keep himself at a safe distance.
If you think about it, its quite amazing that he will still perform with me while onlookers flash cameras at him in all directions. Sometimes his fear gets the best of him and I have to refocus him, that or politely ask people to turn off their flashes until Minnow relaxes. This has/is one of his biggest challenges when we travel to Chincoteague each year, because he performs in an indoor facility, which tends to make the camera flashes go off. I’m not sure Minnow will truly ever overcome his fear, he must have had a traumatic experience with lightning before he came to me – perhaps something happened to him when he was a foal on the island…I will never know.
So for today, I only have photos of Blitz and Boomer, and thats ok. Perhaps Minnow will decide to let us capture him another day.
Blitz was quite the ham with the paintbrush – as always. He’s such a funny pony, I think he knows he’s cute – which in turn makes him think he can get away with anything. He kept trying to paint the fence with the brushes, which eventually led him to frustration when he realized that with each stroke he took, nothing came off of the brush.
Don’t worry Blitz, we will paint again soon.
